Chapter 2, Installing and Managing

Windows Server 2019, dives right into the

very first thing we will have to do when working with
Server 2019: install it! While this seems like a simple
task, there are a number of versioning and licensing
variables that need to be understood before you
proceed with your own install. From there, we will
start to expand upon Microsoft's centralized
management mentality, exploring how we can now
manage and interact with our servers without ever
having to log into them.

Download and install VirtualBox

Oracle Virtual Box: https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads
May take up to 10 minutes, depending upon your system.

You should have this icon on your desktop.

When you open your Oracle VM Virtual Box, you should have the following:
Download and install Windows Server 2019
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/evaluate-windows-server-2019

Figure 1: Windows Server 2019 Download

Download times may differ, dependent upon your data-rate/speed/bandwidth

Figure 2: Chapter Summary (Krause, 2021)

Technical requirements
What roles and features are you planning to install on
this server?
Windows Server Editions:
 Standard edition Server Core
 Standard edition Desktop Experience
 DataCenter Server Core
 DataCenter Desktop Experience
Server Forms:
 Server Core, beneficial from a security
perspective
 Desktop Experience, Windows 10 look and feel
Firmware:
 BIOS
 UEFI
Processor Configuration:

(Mikhailenko, 2021)
Memory:
 2GRAM
Network Type:
(Mikhailenko, 2021)

Figure 3: Technical Requirements (Krause, 2021)

2. Installing Windows Server 2019.
Practical: Steps to install Windows Server 2019:
Step 1: Download a .ISO file from Microsoft by opening a
search engine and typing download windows server 2019 on
the official Microsoft downloads page and save it onto the hard
drive of your computer (you may also burn it to a USB).
Step 2: Once the USB DVD Download Tool is installed, launch
the application and simply walk through the 4-step wizard.
Step 3: Click the Begin copying button and this tool will
turn your USB stick into a bootable stick capable of
installing the entire Windows Server 2019OS.
Step 4: Run the installer by plugging in your bootable
USB into the new server hardware. Boot to it, and you
will finally see the installation wizard for Windows Server
2019. For the most part, you are simply clicking on the
Next button in order to progress through the screens,
but there are a few specific places where you will need
to make decisions along the way.

Figure 4: Installing Windows Server 2019 (Krause, 2021)

Click on Repair your computer if you have server that

cannot boot and are trying to repair it.

Step 5: Click on Install now (You will now be asked to

input a product key to activate Windows. If you have
your keys already available, go ahead and enter one
now. Otherwise, if you are simply installing this to test
Server 2019 and want to run in trial mode for a while,
you can click on the link that says Idon't have a
product key in order to bypass this screen.)
Step 6: Select Desktop Experience and click Next,
where you will be prompted to agree to licencing terms.

Figure 5: Installation Options (Krause, 2021)

Step 7: Select the Custom: Install Windows only

(advanced) option, which is where we will get into our
options for installing this copy of Windows Server 2019
fresh into a new location on the hard drive

Figure 6: Selecting Custom installation (Krause, 2021)

Step 8: Select the drive where you would like to install

Windows Server 2019.
Figure 7: Installation destination (Krause, 2021)

3. Installing roles and features

Installing the operating system gets you started to use
your server as a server.
However, you can't actually do anything useful with your
server at this point. On a client desktop system, the
base operating system is generally all that is needed to
start working and consuming data.
The server's job is to serve up that data in the first place,
and, until you tell the server what its purpose is in life,
there really isn't anything useful happening in that base
operating system.
This is where we need to utilize roles and features.
Windows Server 2019 contains many different options
for roles. A role is just what the name implies: the
installation of a particular role onto a server defines that
server's role in the network. In other words, a role gives
a server some purpose in life.
A feature, on the other hand, is more of a subset of
functions that you can install onto a server. Features can
complement particular roles or stand on their own.
There are pieces of technology available in Windows
Server 2019 that are not installed or turned on by default
because these features wouldn't be used in all
circumstances.

3.1. Installing roles and features

Activity: Complete the steps listed in your textbook to
install roles using the Wizard on your server.

Activity: Complete the steps listed in your textbook to

install a feature using PowerShell

4. Centralised management and

monitoring
Whether you are installing new roles, running backups
and maintenance programs, or troubleshooting and
repairing a server, it is common sense that the first thing
you would do is log directly into the server that you need
to work on.

Then, quite a number of years ago, this became

cumbersome and technology advanced to the point
where we had the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP)
available to us.
We quickly transitioned over to log into our servers
remotely using RDP. Even though it's been around for
many years, RDP is still an incredibly powerful and
secure protocol, giving us the ability to quickly connect
to servers from the comfort of our desk. And, as long as
you have proper network topology and routing in place,
you can work on a server halfway around the world just
as quickly as one sitting in the cubicle next to you.

Server Manager helps you manage your server.

Activity: Configure server manager according to the
steps illustrated in your textbook.
5. Windows Admin Center (WAC)
Windows Admin Center (WAC) is a server and client
management platform that is designed to help you
administer your machines in a more efficient manner.
This is a browser-based tool, meaning that, once
installed, you access WAC from a web browser, which is
great.
No need to install a management tool or application onto
your workstation—simply sit down and tap into it with a
URL.

WAC can manage your servers (all the way back to

Server 2008 R2), your server clusters, and even has
some special functionality for managing hyper-
converged infrastructure clusters. You have the ability to
manage servers hosted on-premises as well as inside
Azure, and you can even manage client machines in the
Windows 10.

Activity: Install and launch Windows Admin Centre

using the steps provided in your textbook
6. Fast server rollouts with Sysprep
Sysprep is a tool that prepares your system for duplication. Its
official name is the Microsoft System Preparation Tool, and to
sum up what it does in one line, it allows you to create a master
image of your server that you can reuse as many times as you
want in order to roll out additional servers.
A key benefit to using Sysprep is that you can put customized
settings onto your master server and install things such as
Windows Updates prior to Sysprep, and all of these settings and
patches will then exist inside your master image.
Using Sysprep saves you time by not having to walk through the
operating system installation process, but it saves you even more
time by not having to wait for Windows Update to roll all of the
current patches down onto every new system that you create.

Activity:
Create a master image
We create with Sysprep by completing the following steps:
1. Install Windows Server 2019 onto a new server
2. Configure customizations and updates onto your new server
3. Run Sysprep to prepare and shut down your master server
4. Create your master image of the drive
5. Build new servers using copies of the master image